Rhodes Productions
Background: Rhodes Productions was a television distribution company that was founded in 1970 by Jack Rhodes and it was first owned by Taft Broadcasting and later acquired by Filmways one year later until Rhodes broke apart from the company and became independent again in 1979 after American International Television was folded into Filmways Television. Rhodes was SCTV 's original U.S. syndicator starting in 1977 (only to lose the rights to Blair Entertainment in ca.1982 and got them back after Blair folded in 1993 (i.e. the 1986-93 Nick at Nite reruns), retaining them until 1998, when Western International Communications (WIC) had the rights). 1st Logo (1971-1975) Logo: On a purple background, we see the text like that: Syndicated through RHODES PRODUCTIONS A Division of Taft Broadcasting Co. The words "RHODES PRODUCTIONS" appears in a light Bauhaus font. Variant: On 1971-75 episodes of the syndicated version of Hollywood Squares and 1971-73 episodes of It's Your Bet, the words "World Wide Syndication through" appears above the company name, and no byline is present below. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Extinct. The standard logo was seen on old syndicated prints of Green Acres, The Banana Splits and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. The in-credit logo was kept intact on GSN airings of Hollywood Squares. Editor's Note: None. 2nd Logo (1975-1976) Logo: We see an in-credit text reading: World Wide Syndication through RHODES PRODUCTIONS COMPANY A Filmways Company FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: The end theme of the show. Availability: Seen on 1975-76 episodes of the syndicated version of Hollywood Squares, as well as all episodes of the 1975-76 syndicated version of High Rollers with Alex Trebek. Preserved on GSN airings of the former. Editor's Note: Likely a placeholder before the next one came out. 3rd Logo (1976-1980s) Logo: On a black background, the words "Syndication through" in white appear to the left, then letter by letter come the words: RHODES ''' '''PRODUCTIONS Both are in the Bauhaus 93 font, looking quite similar to the Filmways font from the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th logos. Around the right of the logo, about twenty-two white stars appear. Variants: *The logo originally had a byline "a FILMWAYS company" with "FILMWAYS" in its corporate font until 1979, when it was removed due to Rhodes becoming independent. *On the syndicated edition of the original Hollywood Squares from 1976-1979 and the first season Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, an in-credit version of the logo exists and colored in white. Sometimes, the Filmways byline is larger and the stars were shortened. FX/SFX: The words and stars appearing gradually to the music, or none. Music/Sounds: An eight note synthesized fanfare (the eight note rapidly tremolos for the stars' appearance before it's released once the stars finish appearing). Given the time, this was most likely created on something like an ARP or Moog synthesizer. In other cases, the closing theme of the show was used. Availability: The animated version is extinct. Seen at the end of the game show Pitfall, the 1980 version of Let's Make a Deal and as a still shot in the end credits of episodes of the original run of Hollywood Squares. Was also seen during the original syndicated run of SCTV (1977-81) and also seen later on the 1984 syndicated repackage of the show on Nick at Nite from 1986-93, but was replaced with the Blair Entertainment logo on Comedy Central airings. Was also responsible for prints of The Cisco Kid that aired on the syndicated version of SCTV in 1981. However, the in-credit version is rare and seen on the first season of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.